Coconuts and Cuttlefish

A collection of my travel photos, articles I find interesting, and other random things.

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

Llama! Isla Incahuasi, Salar de Uyuni, southwestern Bolivia.

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

The Laguna Colorada, one of the highlights of the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve. The water is bright pinkish-orange and home to three species of flamingo. Southwestern Bolivia. 

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

In many places in the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve, you will find stacks of stones. Tourists always ask after their significance, only to be told that they were built by idle tourists. They then typically proceed to make their own. Near Laguna Verde, Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve, southwestern Bolivia.

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

If you cross into Bolivia from Chile near San Pedro de Atacama, you will stop at this Bolivian immigration station in southwestern Bolivia.

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

The Valley of the Moon. All that white stuff you see is salt. Near San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile. 

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

The view from the Rio Coyhaique lookout point. It was cloudy all morning but finally started to clear up by early afternoon. Coyhaique, Chile.

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

Autumn is my favorite season. The trees here are just starting to change colors. Harold Parker State Park, Massachusetts, USA.

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

Ahu Nau Nau, just inland of Anakena Beach. Easter Island, Chile.

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

Why are tropical islands always full of hibiscus? Easter Island, Chile.

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

Anakena Beach, one of only two beaches on Easter Island and where Hotu Matua, the legendary leader of the first intrepid group of settlers, was said to have landed. Easter Island, Chile.

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

Ahu Akivi. This site is the only place where the statues face out to the ocean, but in actuality the site is some distance from the coast and they were most likely overlooking a village. Easter Island, Chile.

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

The quarry at Rano Raraku, where the statues were built. You can see many abandoned statues on the slopes of the volcano. Easter Island, Chile.

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

Donald in Mathmagic Land is on YouTube! I loved this video when I was a kid. I still have it in VHS form. (Maybe it's time to get rid of that...)

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

Underwater crop circles? No, just the work of a little fish.

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

On the evolution of cheating in chess:

In the late 18th century, for example, a Hungarian engineer named Wolfgang von Kempelen toured Europe with a machine called The Turk, which he promoted as a mechanical chess master. Legend holds that Napoleon and Ben Franklin are among the chess aficionados who lost to Kempelen's brainchild. Decades after those big wins, word got out that The Turk, which Kempelen built to woo Empress Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina of Austria, was a royal scam: For all its pulleys and wheels, Kempelen always made sure an accomplished and totally human chess player was hiding inside the machine, making all the right moves.

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

Laguna Blanco. Southwestern Bolivia, just over the Bolivia-Chile border.

[coconutsandcuttlefish]

Bobby's Marina, on the island of St. Maarten in the Netherland Antilles.